Where will the ships sail from after Jade & Pearl

[mbisson]

Any ideas which ships will sail from where after the Jade & Pearl come on line in '07? I assume that the Dream will be gone from Houston when that happens. Might that possibly mean the Sun will be sailing from Houston? Maybe the Jewel from NOLA? Will the Majesty still be in the Fleet & if not which ship takes over for it?

 

It could be an interesting couple years. Personally, I can't wait!

 

-Monte

[Don Haynes]

At the NCL website, intineraries of all of their ships end in April/May 2007. Usually in May/June NCL posts the next year's intineraries past the next April. So we're probably six months away from knowing where they'll go and which ships will be transferred during 2007. I suspect one ship will be transferred to Star Cruises in May of 2007 and the other in November of 2007 to make room for the two new ships.

[mbisson]

At the NCL website, intineraries of all of their ships end in April/May 2007. Usually in May/June NCL posts the next year's intineraries past the next April. .

 

And even then nothing is in stone. Originally they announced that the Jewel would summer in Alaska, now it's going to Europe.

 

-Monte

[Don Haynes]

Yes, and NCL in the last year has changed the intineraries of the Dawn, Spirit, Sun, Dream, Majesty, Sea, and Star on top of the Jewel's for either weather, mechanical, or for competitive reasons. That's eight of their 12 ships during 2005.....

 

And people post they are surprised intineraries are changed.....

[mbisson]

Gee Don, I wish you hadn't posted that. cruiser-dude is now quoting you.

Hope it doesn't turn into another "NCL is not honest" thread

 

LOL

-Monte

[shoreguy]

Gee Don, I wish you hadn't posted that. cruiser-dude is now quoting you.

Hope it doesn't turn into another "NCL is not honest" thread

 

LOL

-Monte

 

What do you think:rolleyes:

[mbisson]

What do you think:rolleyes:

 

Oh, probably exactly what you think.

 

-Monte

[newmexicoNita]

Of course that is what will happen. Now for the real scoop on the new ships: I guess none of us know, but we all have our hopes. I feel the Dream will go to sleep as far as NCL is concerned, hopefully that will open the way for the Sun to move to Houston. As for moving back to NOLA, I think that is something that only God knows. The next 6 months or so could be very interesting. We will all keep our eyes and ears only for indications if nothing else. NMnita

[mbisson]

Now for the real scoop on the new ships: I guess none of us know, but we all have our hopes. NMnita

 

And basically, I was just wondering what people thought might happen. I certainly wasn't hoping to get anything official. But I do expect that next year they will have something sailing from NOLA (weather permitting).

 

-Monte

[shoreguy]

And basically, I was just wondering what people thought might happen. I certainly wasn't hoping to get anything official. But I do expect that next year they will have something sailing from NOLA (weather permitting).

 

-Monte

 

The Sun is still targeted for NOLA next fall - a good thing.

 

We can all guess what NCL will do. My guesses. The Dream and Wind are out of here.

 

Sun to Texas/Alaska (or maybe back to San Juan)

Spirit to NOLA/Alaska

Star stays LA/Alaska

Jewel to Miami/Alaska

Pearl to Miami/ Europe

Jade to NYC

Dawn stays in NYC

 

Crown and Majesty stay around because of the profitable Bermuda runs

[DroopySails]

It does seem like they need a second ship in Miami. It's only the Jewel now, right?

 

I loved the old Sky Southern Carib route out of San Juan. Dang, that was an itinerary: St. Thomas, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, Dominica and Barbados, all in a week. We did it during the magical week after Thanksgiving (love those low, low fares that week) in 2003 and paid about $300 each. Ah, memories.

 

I know it's hard to convince people to fly to San Juan instead of Miami, but fares to Puerto Rico are going down overall, and Princess bases a ship there for at least part of the winter, so...a girl can dream that NCL will do so again someday.

[mbisson]

The Sun is still targeted for NOLA next fall - a good thing.

 

We can all guess what NCL will do. My guesses. The Dream and Wind are out of here.

 

Sun to Texas/Alaska (or maybe back to San Juan)

Spirit to NOLA/Alaska

Star stays LA/Alaska

Jewel to Miami/Alaska

Pearl to Miami/ Europe

Jade to NYC

Dawn stays in NYC

 

Crown and Majesty stay around because of the profitable Bermuda runs

 

Sounds like some pretty good guessing to me. I like the ideas you have for the Spirit. I wonder about the Wind though. It's doing that Fanning run and even though they'll have another ship there (PoH) I'm not sure they would use one of the 3 for anything other than cruises inside Hawaii, (after all they've done to get them OK'd to do US cruises) and I'm not sure they want to stop doing Fanning. But I have heard that the Wind would be leaving so who knows.

 

But my crystal ball is cracked so???

 

-Monte

[mbisson]

It does seem like they need a second ship in Miami. It's only the Jewel now, right?

 

The Sun will be doing some sailings from Miami, but only because of the problems with NOLA.

 

-Monte

[DroopySails]

Sounds like some pretty good guessing to me. I do wonder about the Wind though. It's doing that Fanning run and even though they'll have another ship there (PoH) I'm not sure they would use one of the 3 for anything other than cruises inside Hawaii, (after all they've done to get them OK'd to do US cruises) and I'm not sure they want to stop doing Fanning.

 

But my crystal ball is cracked so???

 

-Monte

 

Agree that these sound like good guesses and that the Fanning issue is up for grabs. But if the Pearl goes to Europe, the Jewel goes to Alaska and the Dream goes bye-bye, does the Mediterranean run get dropped while the Baltic itinerary stays? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[mbisson]

Agree that these sound like good guesses and that the Fanning issue is up for grabs. But if the Pearl goes to Europe, the Jewel goes to Alaska and the Dream goes bye-bye, does the Mediterranean run get dropped while the Baltic itinerary stays? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

 

LOL-Well, if the Wind could stay in Hawaii, and do Alaska in the Summer (like it's doing next summer), that'd free up the Jewel again. See, I knew this speculating could be fun.

 

-Monte

[shoreguy]

Agree that these sound like good guesses and that the Fanning issue is up for grabs. But if the Pearl goes to Europe, the Jewel goes to Alaska and the Dream goes bye-bye, does the Mediterranean run get dropped while the Baltic itinerary stays? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

 

Who knows - if the Jewel is successful this year they could have one of the new builds joined by the Dawn in the Summer, Lots of choices like freestyle.

[DroopySails]

See, I knew this speculating could be fun.

 

It is fun, isn't it? Well, night, all. Must rest up so that I can earn the money that buys the passage (to sail on the ship that Meyer built).

 

Thanks to everyone here for the invaluable info throughout 2005. Best of everything to all of you in this new year.

[Joe1690]

I posted my speculation on another thread titled "what ship will do Bermuda for 2007." However, I will cut and paste my response below since I am not sure how to link to the other thread (for that particular post).

 

As other posters have stated no one knows which ship will replace the majesty and when this will happen. However, from a cruise news daily article over the summer NCL has plans to build at least 1 ship (probably several) over 100,000 tons. This class of ships will be homeported in Florida according to Colin Veitch and will allow NCL to be competitive with the other players. Therefore, my guess is that since the Jewel, and newbuild 1 and 2 will not be homeported in miami that things will be quite interesting over the next 2 years. Also, we already see that NCL is being creative in 2006 by offering Bermuda itineraries on both the Dawn and the Spirit albeit they are only a 1 day stop. Is this possibly NCL testing the waters for 2007 to determine whether they need a ship that spends 7 days in Bermuda? My guess is yes.

 

My guess for fleet positions in 2007 Summer are:

 

NCL America

Pride of America: Hawaii (pretty much a given)

Pride of Aloha: Hawaii (pretty much a given)

Pride of Hawaii: Hawaii (pretty much a given)

 

NCL

Spirit: New York Homeport w/ 6 and 8 day Bahamas/Bermuda itineraries

Sun: N. Europe

Star: Alaska 7 day itinerary

Dawn: New York Homeport w/ 7 day Carribbean and Bermuda itinerary

Jewel: Europe

Unnamed #1: Alaska

Wind: Alaska 7 day itinerary

Dream: leaves fleet spring 2007

Majesty: Boston homeport w/ 7 day Bermuda itinerary

Crown: NYC homeport w/ 7 day Bermuda itinerary

 

Winter 2007

NCL America

Pride of America: Hawaii (pretty much a given)

Pride of Aloha: Hawaii (pretty much a given)

Pride of Hawaii: Hawaii (pretty much a given)

 

NCL

Spirit: Charleston homeport w/ carribbean cruises (similar to majesty's current itinerary)

Sun: Houston homeport 7 day W. Carribbean itineraries

Star: New Orleans homeport 7 day W. Carribbean itinerary

Dawn: NYC Homeport w/ similar itineraries to 2006

Jewel: LA homeport 8 day Mexican Riveria cruises

Unnamed #1: Miami homeport 7 day Carribbean cruises

Unnamed #2: NYC homeport w/ similar itineraries to 2006 on Spirit (replaces spirit)

Wind: Hawaii homeport w/ 10 and 11 day itineraries

Majesty: leaves fleet fall 2007

Crown: South America

 

Summer 2008

NCL America

Pride of America: Hawaii (pretty much a given)

Pride of Aloha: Hawaii (pretty much a given)

Pride of Hawaii: Hawaii (pretty much a given)

 

NCL

Spirit: Boston Homeport w/ Carribbean & Bermuda cruises

Sun: N. Europe

Star: Alaska

Dawn: NYC homeport w/ 7 day Carribean and Bermuda cruises

Jewel: Alaska

Unnamed #1: Europe (meditteranean cruises)

Unnamed #2: NYC homeport w/ 6 & 8 day Bahamas/Bermuda cruises

Wind: Alaska

Crown: NYC homeport w/ 7 day Bermuda cruises

 

I could be completely wrong with my predictions but it seems that NCL will keep the Crown for a while and also NCL has continually made comments that they will have a ship sailing to the fanning islands (ie. the wind). Therefore, I believe both of these ships will leave the fleet first. Also, with 2 new ships debuting in addition to the Jewel, I would expect NCl to place 1 of these 3 ships in the New York market because they have more suites and New Yorkers tend to like the finer things in life. In addition, NCL has made a committment to bring in X number of passengers by I think 2015 in return for having the West side piers refurbished. As such, I believe that they will increase tonnage. Also, while the majesty is a fine ship it lacks balconies and the cruising public loves balconies so this ship will probably be transferred early on since the dream, wind, and crown all have balconies.

 

It is extremely difficult, however, to predict which of the four older NCL ships will leave the fleet first since they all have their advantages. On the one hand the Crown, Dream, and Wind all have balconies which the Majesty lacks. On the other hand, the Crown and Majesty are the only 2 NCL ships which can fit into all 3 ports in Bermuda. In addition, the Crown can sail in the smaller fjords in South America, and the Dream has the flip funnel allowing it to sail the Kiel Canal in Northern Europe. So which unique feature is most important and which is least I guess comes down to revenue. My guess is that the crown commands the highest per diems followed by the Crown, then the majesty, and the dream has the lowest per diems.

 

The next few years will be interesting for NCL and I wonder if they will decide to enter the shorter length cruise market again (less than 7 days) w/ 3 and 4 day cruises like they used to do on the Sea or going back to the early 90's the 3 and 4 day cruises on the Southward (westward?) from LA. Only time will tell but I can see them entering these markets again once they have a large enough fleet. I figure we will be hearing about at least 1 to 2 more ship orders in 2006 with 1 or both being post-panamax (100,000+ ton) ships. These probably won't arrive until 2008 or 2009, however.

[mbisson]

The next few years will be interesting for NCL and I wonder if they will decide to enter the shorter length cruise market again (less than 7 days) w/ 3 and 4 day cruises like they used to do on the Sea or going back to the early 90's the 3 and 4 day cruises on the Southward (westward?) from LA. Only time will tell but I can see them entering these markets again once they have a large enough fleet. I figure we will be hearing about at least 1 to 2 more ship orders in 2006 with 1 or both being post-panamax (100,000+ ton) ships. These probably won't arrive until 2008 or 2009, however.

 

Neat that you mentioned shorter cruises. Although not the market you mentioned, one of the items they said they would do in Hawaii (they since seem to have changed their minds) was to have one ship do 3&4 day Hawaii cruises.

 

-Monte

[calmac]

Agree that these sound like good guesses and that the Fanning issue is up for grabs. But if the Pearl goes to Europe, the Jewel goes to Alaska and the Dream goes bye-bye, does the Mediterranean run get dropped while the Baltic itinerary stays? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

 

I'm sure I'm not the only person who would like to see more European cruises - not less. The end of season longer cruises which the Jewel is doing in 2006 really appeal BUT they are after the schools go back so are not an option for us. It would be nice to see longer Mediterranean cruises being offered during the 2007 season. IF the Dream and Wind transfer out of NCL then the Kiel Canal transit option will disappear. The only other ships which offer this seem to be in the 20,000 ton range - quite a different offering.

 

Just wondering - are the Dream and Wind too large to dock in Bermuda (I know that all the other, larger, ships are)?

[shoreguy]

Just wondering - are the Dream and Wind too large to dock in Bermuda (I know that all the other, larger, ships are)?

 

Not sure - I visited Bermuda on the Dreamward (pre-stretch). I don't believe the ship has been back since it became the Dream

[tom_uk]

if I can butt in - are 'Norwegian Jade' and 'Norwegian Pearl' deifnitely the names of the next two ships?

 

One of them is currently building at Meyer-Werft, I believe, alongside Pride of Hawaii. Is the next one due to be built there as well, starting when PoH is floated out?